Patti Page was born Clara Ann
Fowler in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1927. Her interest in music gave her
career a start in local radio. One of her sponsors during those days
on Tulsa station KTULwas the Page Dairy, from which she got her
professional name. Jack Rael who was the road manager for the Jimmy
Joy band, heard her and got her a job as vocalist with the band. He
then became her manager and landed Page a spot on the Breakfast Club
radio show from Chicago in 1947. She appeared as a solo vocalist in
night spots in the Chicago-Milwaukee area, and signed a recording
contract with the recently formed Mercury record label which was
based in Chicago. In late May and early June of 1948 Patti was
singing vocals with the Benny Goodman sextet at club dates in the
Philadelphia area. Many of these appearances were broadcast over
local station KYW and others on the CBS radio network from the
Philadelphia club, The Click. versions of "The Man I Love", "Little
White Lies", and "Confess" from these broadcasts are preserved from
Armed Forces Radio Services airchecks. One of the tunes she sang with
the combo became her first charted record.

In July of 1948 the song "Confess"
by Patti Page entered the hit charts and was a moderate hit that
cracked the top twenty. The follow up song "So In Love" barely made
the list at all early the next year. It was the next release however,
that started the great wave of popularity that would make Patti Page
a household name and one of the biggest selling recording artists of
the pop music years. The song was called "With My Eyes Wide Open I'm
Dreaming" and featured the unique multi tracking process that was
also being developed by Les Paul and Mary Ford. By recording in this
method, Patti Page is singing four part harmony. In fact the early
Mercury recordings were listed on the label as vocal by Patti Page
written four times. The hit status of the record carried over into
1950 and remained on the charts for more than three months.

1950 also produced two even bigger
hits. The first was "All My Love" which was written in France under
the name "Bolero", which just missed getting to the coveted number
one spot, remaining in the second position for five weeks, and on the
top selling records list for more than five months. The song with
English lyrics written by Mitchell Parrish gave Patti her third
million seller. In searching for a follow up recording, it was a
return once again to her country music roots to do a song written by
Redd Stewart and PeeWee King for their Golden West Cowboys group, and
also was a country hit for Cowboy Copas- "The Tennessee Waltz". The
song was a massive hit going to number one and remaining on the hit
parade for over six months. The multi tracked vocal with muted
orchestration in waltz time was to be forever identified with Patti
Page. It is estimated that the record has sold close to fifteen
million copies throughout the years. The popularity of the recording
made the song the last one to sell one million copies of sheet music,
due to the exploding popularity of recorded music. By now Page was a
major star, and the year of 1951 would be a busy one in the recording
studio. The first charted record of the new year was a bit of a
departure in that it was an up tempo tune. It was called "Would I
Love You" and it sold well (a million seller), lasting for more than
four months on the best seller list and getting into the top ten. The
next release was the Patti Page version of a Les Paul and Mary Ford
hit "Mockin' Bird Hill". Despite the appeal of the original, Page's
effort was good enough to reach the number three position and last
for a total of twenty two weeks on the top sales chart and sell a
million copies."Ever True Ever More" and "Down The Trail Of Aching
Hearts" were the two sides of the next Mercury release and both were
minor hits just barely charting. The next record was "These Things I
Offer You" which was also a minor hit, but the flip side called
"Mister and Mississippi" was a substantial seller (again over a
million) making the top ten and lasting on the best seller list for
more than three months. Another country tune provided the next hit.
It was called "Detour", and had been previously recorded by Foy
Willing and Elton Britt. The Patti Page version got as high as the
number twelve spot and had a run of fourteen weeks on the charts and
became eventually, Patti Page's seventh million seller. Closing out
the year was a song called "And So To Sleep Again", which made the
top ten and had a three and a half month stay on the best seller
list.

1952 began with a record that
reached number eleven and lasted eleven weeks on the hit parade. The
song was "Come What May". The follow up was a moderate hit called
"Whispering Winds". The third charted record of the year was an old
Tommy Dorsey tune called "Once In A While" which was originally an
instrumental named "Dancing With You". It also was a moderate seller.
The very next Mercury release was a two sided smash hit. One side was
a cover of Jo Stafford's "You Belong To Me" which made the top ten
and remained on the charts for fourteen weeks. The flip side was a
huge seller and a number one record. It was "I Went To Your Wedding",
a country waltz somewhat similar to the "Tennessee Waltz" of one year
earlier. The song written by Jessie Mae Robinson became the eighth
record by Page to pass one million in sales. The next release was
"Why Don"t You Believe Me?" which is better known as Joni James debut
hit, but again the Page style propelled the record to a respectable
showing just missing the top ten and having a decent run on the
charts. The year of 1953 began with a huge hit of a kind of novelty
ballad that is usually set as an example of the deficiencies of pop
music of the early fifties. However at the time an awful lot of
people must have really liked the song to have made it such a massive
hit record. The song was "Doggie In The Window", a sentimental ballad
in waltz time complete with little doggie yelps, barks etc. The
record was a number one, multi- million seller and lasted on the
charts for more than five months, most of the first half of 1953 !
The next release barely made the charts, a tune called "Butterflies",
but the following record hit the big time once again. The song was
"Changing Partners", another country flavored ballad. Again the
result was a million seller (the tenth for Page) and a number four
record that stayed for five months on the charts.

The hits continued as 1954 began.
"Cross Over The Bridge" written by long time tune smiths Benny
Benjamin and George Weiss, was the eleventh million seller for Patti
and got as high as number three on the hit parade and remained a best
seller for five months. A hit tune from the stage play The Pajama
Game called "Steam Heat" was next on the charts. It placed in the top
twenty and lasted for two months. In a move that signalled what was
to come in American popular music, Patti Page next covered R & B
star vocalist Ruth Brown on the Chuck Willis tune "Oh What A Dream".
The result was a three month stay on the best seller charts and a top
twenty record. The rest of the year produced moderate chart hits - "I
Cried", "The Mama Doll Song", and a cover of Joan Weber's "Let Me Go
Lover" from TV's dramatic program Studio One which made into the top
ten.

Patti Page had only one recording
to chart during the year 1955. It was called "Croce Di Oro (Cross Of
Gold)". In the ensuing years bucking the rock and roll trend that
took over popular music, Patti Page continued to do well with
recordings. Three more million sellers followed - "Allegheny Moon"
and "Old Cape Cod" (reprising the multi tracked vocals) in 1956, and
"Left Right Out Of Your Heart" in 1958. Other big hits were "Mama
From The Train" in 1956, "Belonging To Someone" in 1958, and her last
charted record "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" from the picture of the
same name in 1965, a top ten record for Columbia, the only one not a
product of her long association with Mercury records.The late fifties
also saw a Patti Page TV show, and a featured role in the motion
picture Elmer Gantry. Two albums charted briefly-"Manhattan Tower" a
vocal version of Gordon Jenkins orchestral suite; and "Hush Hush
Sweet Charlotte" in 1965 for Columbia.

For the Interlude Years 1946-1955,
Patti Page had a total of twentynine charted records. Ten were in the
top ten and three were number one records. Ten were million sellers.
These results make Patti Page the most prolific female singer of the
era. And the music did not stop in 1955. As has been noted Page had
more hits including three more million sellers in the late fifties.
She almost single handedly kept Mercury records at the forefront of
popular music during these times. Patti Page was certainly the number
one practitioner of her craft during the golden era of American pop
music.